Nemesis/Villain Appearances: Empire
of the Badoon. Sisterhood of the Badoon, Emperor Goozot

The planet Earth,
circa 3015 AD. Most of humankind are dead, and those who still live, live as slaves of
Earth's conquerors, the baneful Brotherhood of Badoon. Yet, small its numbers
may be, humanity's longing for freedom has not perished. And, at the vanguard of
Man's struggle, stands the interplanetary guerilla band known as the Guardians of
the Galaxy.

Hovering above the
Earth in a massive spacecraft, the leader of the Badoon watches as the
Guardian's ship and its nine life-forms, gains orbit over the planet below.
Lordsire Droom is angered when he hears a report from his lower officer, Koz, that
intercept craft have already been dispatched. Droom quickly orders the troops
recalled explaining that he needs the Guardian ship intact. Droom commands his
inferior to carry out his order. He then turns to watch the spacecraft's orbit on the bridge view screen, and
then quietly mutters to himself that he has a far worse
fate planned for the Guardians, and the ships other occupants, than death by molecular
dispersion fire!

On board the Guardian
ship which is named "Captain America", Martinex adjusts the controls
of the teleporter in preparation for the transportation of the heroes to Earth.
Valkyrie, Vance Astro, the Hulk and Yondu are prepared for travel and stand
inside glass vertical transport tubes. But, the Hulk remains skeptical or
perhaps claustrophobic despite the reassurance of the Guardians and his fellow
Defenders. Nighthawk, Dr. Strange and Charlie-27 soothe the jade giant and the
Hulk eventually submits, as the green behemoth understands (if minimally) the
enormity of the task before them. Crystalline fingers adroitly manipulate the
dials of the control console as Martinex
activates the teleport "send" circuit. Instantly, four sets of atoms
are broadcast to Earth. However, several seconds earlier on board Droom's ship,
the vile leader's webbed hand comes down hard on a bright red button and another
high intensity directional radio wave lances up into space to bisect and deflect
the four beams which emanate from the "Captain America". This hurtles
the scrambled molecules of the Guardians/Defenders teams on a journey away from
Earth and into the trackless void of sub-space. On board the Guardians' ship,
Martinex scrambles to the controls exclaiming to Dr. Strange that he has lost
them. Suddenly, from a hidden corner of the ship, a voice yells out that
Martinex has murdered them! Dr. Strange and the crystal Guardian turn to see a
man rushing towards them. A man in anguish, who wants to know what has happened
to his wife. A man named Jack Norriss.

The answer to that
question would likely not please Jack Norriss. For the warrior woman and the
1000 year-old master of psycho kinesis (better known as Vance Astro) have
re-integrated, knee deep in some fetid marshland. The waters are blood red and
murky, the vegetation is a tangle of deep purple and gold. The entire gestalt is
alien and fraught with peril. Val and Vance quickly realize they are not in New
York and more importantly, not on Earth as evidenced by the sky's two moons. The
pair of heroes begin to prepare to explore their new surrounding when suddenly
webbed, hirsute hands stab out at them from the lacework of leaves and vines and
the duo is suddenly under attack. Up from the muck, down from the branches of
the trees, they came in droves. Slimy-haired lizards things, savage, mindless
and uncontrollably violent. And, though their claws cannot penetrate Astro's
protective metal sheath, their sheer weight is sufficient to force his
glittering form down into the mire...to drown! Meanwhile, Val's magic spawned
strength is greater. She stands firm against the cruel assault. She even strikes
back, but as she does so, a wave of nausea sweeps over her. Her thrusts grow
weaker, more awkward. Her will to survive seems pitted against some other,
equally powerful instinct. Until her bare flesh is torn open by the swift
stinging swipe of reptilian claws. Then, she stabs without thought, without
further question, hitting one of the beasts in the mid-section, and she reaps an
unexpected side effect: It is as if, she had inflicted the fatal wound upon
herself. She experiences such pain as she has never known, her every nerve
blazing a fiery trail to her brain. She doubles over, cries out, and then falls
face-forward into the crimson clouded waters. Suddenly, the beasts surge toward
her convulsing form. While mere yards away, as five of the filthy creatures pin
down Astro, he realizes he has to help Val and so he summons all his concentration
and blast the berserkers away, with a psychokinetic bolt. Free of the beasts
enormous weight, Astro struggles to his feet and ravenously gulps in the humid
air. He then cast his eyes left and right for some sight of the Valkyrie. He
sees a group of the savage creatures in a fury of activity and realizes that
they are pounding Val into the ground. Once more he reaches deep into his
consciousness, gathering together sparks of psychic
force...fusing...focusing...hurling them outward through the psyche-pusher disc
concealed beneath his metallic hood. Screaming "Get off her...NOW!",
the beasts are violently flung off Val. Vance rushes to her side and helps Val
to her feet. Her shoulder is wounded but she is able to stand. Val comments that
the beasts resemble the Badoon physically but they seem more primitive, or
perhaps an offshoot. Suddenly, a voice advises them that they can speculate on
that later but now Val is in need of aid. The pair of Defenders turn to see a
yellow glowing humanoid figure on the swamp's edge, and the figure is beckoning
them.

While back in Earth
orbit, the Guardians and the Defenders have built and re-built the transporter
several times and still cannot detect any source of the malfunction. Martinex
then determines that it was some outside force that caused the disruption
and that the heroes could now be anywhere on Earth, some other world, or even
dead, adrift in space! Upon hearing this, Jack Norriss flies into a rage. Wielding
a wrench, he launches an attack at Martinex (calling hi a murdering rock-headed
freak!). Quickly, Dr. Strange steps in and, with a minor spell, renders Jack
motionless, promising to release him when he can better control himself. Strange
then apologizes to Martinex for Jack's behaviour and then the four heroes
return their attention to locating their lost friends. Dr. Strange then requests
Martinex to take him to the sensor banks.

Even as they stride
the Starship's metal corridors, Yondu, last of the Centauri-IV primitives, and
the Hulk, first of the gamma-ray-born primitives, materialize amid a bizarre bacchanalian
revel...on a world neither has ever seen. Ever the noble savage, Yondu's very
sense of decency is offended by the sites and sounds of the reckless abandon
that swirls all about him. Real or imagined, his wilderness bred instincts
detect a sinister quality about it. He must know more. Turning to a nearby
drunken sot, he queries the man as to directions but quickly learns that the
people here do not speak English. The Hulk notes that despite the singing and
laughter in the people, he senses sadness and death! Suddenly, a woman's scream
is heard in the distance and the Hulk and Yondu set off to find it source.
Rushing down alleys and stone passageways, the pair barely notice that nobody
cares to join them in their pursuit of the screaming woman. Suddenly, they round
a corner and are shocked to see a woman surrounded by four swordsmen who seem
intent on hacking her to death! Yondu yells at the group to get away from the
woman but the men are apparently as deaf as the revelers, so Yondu resorts to
other means to disperse them. Pulling back on his bow he lets fly the Yaka arrow
and then issues a shrill whistle to which the weird shaft of the
"living" metal responds by looping and diving around and among the
woman's attackers, sending them racing in panic from the alcove to the street
and away. The pair moves to comfort the woman whom, they assume, is overcome
with fright. However, she quickly turns on the heroes, yells at the same strange
tongue they had heard earlier and then slaps Yondu across the face! Holding his
face in shock and bewilderment, Yondu tries to understand the strange customs of
this culture, the Hulk too! Suddenly, from around the corner, half-a-dozen
gun wielding robots appear. The look vaguely like silver metal skeletons with oversized
heads...and, they speak English! Apparently, the robots are some form of
law enforcement and the two heroes are charged with disruption of the Festival
of Death. The Hulk is pleased at this development and before Yondu can restrain
him, the green behemoth smashes all six robots in very short order! The Guardian
stands in awe of Hulk's power but they are interrupted by the arrival of a
massive robot, four times the size of the Hulk, which moves on a huge metal
roller. The mother-robot announces that because of the Hulk's actions, the pair
are found guilty. Beams of light come out of the robot's eyes and the heroes are
paralyzed and captured!

Back on board the Captain
America, Martinex has effectively wired Dr. Strange to the ship's computer
systems. The Pluvian asks Strange if he is ready, then engages the sensor banks
of the computer which are set for wide scan. For a moment there is silence, then
the hum and whirr of the data system begins, followed by the snap of electron
fire as the Sorcerer Supreme joins his own mystic energies to the computer's
capabilities. The result is a fusion of mysticism and technology: A sorcerer who
can process and evaluate data input with machine precision and split second
rapidity and a computer that is one with the universe. Together, they reach out,
probing, seeking, touching , transversing the interstellar void...intuition
guiding logic...examining whole star-systems at the nerve-impulse clip...and
with such enormous power that it defies Earthly (and Badoonly!) measure! On
board the Badoonian ship, their sensor instruments are fried by Dr. Strange's probing.
The Badoon leader cries out to his troops that they must find this new power
source and destroy it at any cost!

Meanwhile, on
Swampworld, parsecs distant from the activities developing around Earth, Astro
carries Val in the direction indicated by the glowing figure. Vance asks the
figure if he has medical supplies because Val is in dire need of blood. The
shining bright being asks the Guardian to stand aside. Vance does so,
reluctantly. The strange being holds his glowing arms over Valkyrie and
announces that he is her healer, he is the light which mends all wounds...of the
spirit and of the flesh...he is the giver of the light and into the stricken,
from him, does the light flow that she may rise into the world, whole once more.
Suddenly, Val begins to glow as he talks and then effortlessly, she sits up. The
stranger meantime has become less bright, more substantial. Standing next to Val
is a man costumed in powder blue tights with a yellow starburst around the waist
and heavy yellow gloves. Astro hastens to Valkyrie's side and asks her how she
is feeling. Val admits she is feeling very well and that her wounds have
vanished. Vance then turns to their saviour and begins to ask the obvious
questions. However, the stranger deflects the questions as if they have no
importance and reminds the pair that they are in his debt!

While, at the opposite
end of the galaxy, the giant robot has escorted Yondu and the Hulk to the throne
room of the this world's leader. His name is Emperor Goozot. He is an obese ruler,
dressed only in a gown of purple cloth. He surrounds himself with scantily clad
women and ample food and drink for he is a king who is hedonistic. Goozot
addresses his rolling guard machine (whom he calls Zinnia) in his own language
and asks what the crime is of this pair. The robot reports their interferences
and when a woman hanging on Goozot's arm tells him to have them dismembered, he
declines. Goozot gathers that the pair are gifts from their allies, the Badoon's,
and he decides to enter the two in the Games. He instructs Zinnia to get the
Hulk better clothed and the huge machine leads them away.

Meanwhile, back on the
"Captain America", Martinex and Charlie watch the instruments to see
how far Dr. Strange has scanned. They are astonished to see he has already
exceeded their normal range by a factor of 10. Charlie is worried about the
strain on Dr. Strange but his thoughts are interrupted by the beep of a warning
signal indicating an intruder alert in the teleport room! Despite his misgivings
of leaving Strange alone,
Nighthawk joins Martinex and Charlie who suggest they may have been invaded! In
the teleport chamber, a decidedly unpleasant surprise awaits them...the Badoon
Elite Guard!

(NOTE:
check out the cover, seems they have substituted the Hulk for Vance Astro...go
figure. They also spelled Badoon as BADDOON on the cover, tsk tsk Marvel
proofers!)

NEXT:
The secret of the Swampworld and its blue-and-gold clad medic...the Hulk and
Yondu play "The Games"...and a battle royal you'll never forget, all
in the next
issue Defenders
#28 "My
Mother, the Badoon!"